News stories by Kester Kenn Klomegah, page 3

A government initiative aimed at rooting out deep-seated corruption in Russia has hit a number of stumbling blocks since its implementation. According to experts, the initiative, adopted by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev at the beginning of his term, has been unsuccessful in combating the pervasive issue of corruption, particularly in regional administrations and offices, in this eastern European country.

Financial remittances to the Central Asian Republics by millions of both undocumented and legal migrants working in Russia have increased substantially, labour experts say.

The popular revolt in Kyrgystan this month should 'serve as a wakeup call to the European Union and the United States, prompting some serious rethinking of their policy priorities in Central Asia,' says a leading area expert.

The executions of two Belarus citizens in March and calls by Russian senators to reintroduce capital punishment for terrorists are being seen as indications that the death penalty is not about to fade out soon in the former Soviet republics.

Russian efforts to acquire oil and gas fields in Africa and prospect for minerals on the resource-rich continent have yielded little success over the past decade due to lack of a coherent national strategy, experts say.

Russia should reconsider its trade policy towards African states if it wants to keep up with the likes of China, the European Union (EU) and the U.S., say experts.

Nearly all of the former Soviet republics have adopted native languages that were suppressed during the communist era at the expense of Russian. This is affecting Russia's influence over the commonwealth of independent states.

Russia and the United States have made a breakthrough by signing a new strategic arms reduction agreement after several months of diplomatic negotiations, closing some of the pages of the past and opening a new chapter for the future.

U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to Russia next week is expected to bring significant but limited improvement in troubled relations between the two giants.

After years of negotiations on joining the WTO, Russia is still far from meeting the requirements set forth by the organisation.